


True Genius

by Anonymous



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: probably will never be finished
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-19 03:47:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29744511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: “All beings begin their lives with hopes and aspirations. Among these aspirations is the desire that there will be a straight path to those goals. It is seldom so. Perhaps never.” -Mitth'raw'nuruodoIn the new Star Wars canon, Thrawn was exiled from the Chiss Ascendancy - his people - for aggressive preemptive strikes against his enemies. There, he is exiled to a jungle world with no sentient life. In this story, he's exiled to a different world, a World of Ice & Fire.Basically Bran Stark the Greenseer and Thrawn conquer the world. Very unlikely I ever complete this.
Relationships: Bran Stark & Thrawn
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5
Collections: Anonymous





	True Genius

“All beings begin their lives with hopes and aspirations. Among these aspirations is the desire that there will be a straight path to those goals. It is seldom so. Perhaps never.” -Mitth'raw'nuruodo

When the ship came from the sky, it did so in the dead of night. It dropped off far from any settlement in the furthest corner of the Bay of Ice a hundred miles from any man. The man who left the strange flying machine was abandoned with nothing more than the clothes on his back, and some strange contraptions on his feet. No food, nor water, nor weapons of any kind. A death sentence, in all but name. In an ordinary world he would freeze or starve or die of thirst long before any of the planet's inhabitants would ever come across him. His body would fall through the frozen lake and be lost long before it had a chance to contaminate the world with knowledge they should not yet possess.

That was the way it should be. When the high council ordered exile they did not mean for it to be easy. It was a way to wash their hands of someone. They did not want the convicted alive, but nor did they want to sully their hands by killing them, so they left them to die in a place in which they could not possibly live. Still few chose death over exile, even though all knew what exile meant, knew they would be given little chance to live, but still it was preferable than the certainty of death, and so they rolled the dice - and they all lost.

It would have been no different for Thrawn if he had been dropped off in any place but the one which they chose. Unbeknownst to the soldiers who had carried him, they did attract attention, miles away beneath a cave under the earth Bran Stark, having outlived Bloodraven and his attempts to usurp his body, saw the ship. 

He had learned to see past the trees, to fly, and for the first time, he saw something fly higher than even he. He saw the great flying metal machine drop off from higher than birds or dragons dared and he saw the man it left behind and decided to act. 

He sent ravens to the strange being and his direwolf, he sent horse and goat and other fish and led the unknown warrior to his cave, through mountain, forest, and river. He didn't have a plan, he didn't know anything about the being that was so clearly not from this world, blue-skinned and blue-haired with glowing red eyes, but he had nothing left to lose. His family was gone, his Father slain by a false king, his brother and mother murdered by the Freys, his cousin that he'd thought was his brother murdered by his new brothers in black, and Meera and Jojen, murdered by the Children who'd lured them here. His other family had forgotten who they were, Arya shed her face and her name but at least she did it for power, Sansa was simply too cowardly to carry her name any longer. Only little Rickon dared to still carry the name Stark, but the child was feral, and he only said the name while hunting in the wild. Not exactly a bright future for his house. It fell to him to exact vengeance on all those that had destroyed his family.

He wanted it desperately, with every breath he took he wanted vengeance, and yet he couldn't achieve it. For all his sight, all his power, he could do nearly nothing. He was imprisoned in this tree that he had once hoped for salvation in. He'd barely managed to hold onto his body when he discovered what Bloodraven and the other children were doing, barely managed to use Hodor to kill them, at the cost of the stableboy's life, and now he was trapped here, in a cave in the edge of the world. He could use Summer to gather food for him but that was all. 

He would change into the skin of a man to save himself if there were any men who still lingered. But the Others had slain all the men left in the haunted forests, all that remained were near the wall or in Hardhome and he could not lead them to his cave around the Others. He was trapped, abandoned, and alone until the man dropped from the sky. It was a long way from the Bay of Ice to past the Milkwater where Bran lay, but he had nothing but time. There were no white walkers between them either, which meant this was his only chance, to escape the cave and to take his revenge. He could only hope the being he saw was stronger than he looked. 

When Thrawn first touched down on the strange, desolate world, he'd known he was going to die. The exile had not been in jungle or forest, where he certainly would have been able to survive, nor island or grassland where it would have been difficult, but doable. No, they had dropped him in a lake of ice, as far as the eye could see. Whether it had been on their own accord or from their superiors, the result was the same, he would die here.

That had not stopped him from trying to survive, however. He'd done all he could do to live. He'd reasoned his position from the moon and stars, and his surroundings and determined he was in the Northern region. He'd measured each step on the ice to avoid falling through and, carefully maintained his body heat. When he found patches with thinner ice he'd soaked portions of his tunic in order to find water to drink. He traveled only by day, and packed the ice as much as he dared to preserve his body heat.

Still, he knew it would not be enough, the cold was too strong for his meager clothes, and without food, he would not be able to keep up his strength. In time he would falter, he would grow delirious and then he would die. It was inevitable. Days later, he was no less certain of his fate.

Until the birds came. A dozen white birds flew overhead, in a perfect circle in the sky. Each came upon him one at a time and dropped a fish right in front of him. 

To say he was nonplussed would be an understatement. He had seen many strange things in his travels and in his service, but never had he seen birds acting in such concert, nor with such intelligence. His suspicions bore fruit when the Birds lined up in a crude arrow, pointing North of where he stood, they made the formation again and again, until Thrawn pointed in that direction and they all cawwed in concert.

He set off along the path they set, eating the raw fish as he walked. Each one tasted divine, and each one gave him back his fledgling strength. The birds warned him of each patch of thin ice so he made better time and when night came more birds flew towards him, nearly half a hundred this time carrying in their beaks and claws a cloak made for a man. Sleep came easier that night, and when morning came he continued on the path they set. 

He traveled like that for more than a moon's turn, and before long he made it to the shore of the frozen lake, towards land life. More animals came upon him then, one of the largest 4 legged beast he'd ever seen was waiting for him, a wolf but with eyes that had the inteligence of a man. Beside him was another creature, calmer than any Thrawn had ever seen, calm enough that he, who had no experience riding animals was able to mount it, and it set off at nearly 30 kph galloping until it's heart gave out, whereupon another of the same kind of beast awaited him. He passed by mountains, and forests, river,s and caves, but the creatures never lost the path.

He followed the path laid out for him in silence, taking in each observation and weighing it in his mind. He knew a great deal about his circumstances already, somehow, the pilot had drawn attention when he landed, the attention of some intelligence who could rule the minds of beasts. That was where he was going, he had no doubt of that. But still, the answer to one question often brought forth more. 

How could this intelligence rule the minds of beasts? Could it rule the minds of sentients as well? What kind of sentients lived here? In the galaxy, there were many, most bipedal, but a great many who were otherwise. This looked like a world of bipeds and judging from the cloak these bipedals were roughly the same size as he, but he could not be sure until he saw one. 

Nearly halfway through the second turn of the moon on this strange world, the wolf and horse stopped. He was in a clearing next to a great tree, one of the largest he'd ever seen, carved into the tree was a distinctive face. He dismounted and walked up to the tree and took in the face, hesitating only briefly as he saw it. This was not the sentient, he knew, but perhaps they wanted him to believe it was?

If they did, they gave up the deception quickly, as the greater beast began to dig with his snout and paws, showing away beneath the Tree. The meaning clear, Thrawn followed the creature into the earth, where he came across a full cave.

In it lay nearly a dozen corpses of near Chiss creatures, smaller and three-fingered, each one wielding near some form of weapon with their small bodies mangled beyond recognition. Then he came across another body, which stopped him short. It was human. 

The same race he'd come across years ago, the same pink skin, the same 5 fingered hands and the same shape of face and structure. He turned his gaze upwards where another small human boy sat, huddled in cloaks in a throne of roots. "Greetings Stranger," the boy said. His voice the high-pitched sound of an early adolescent and the words in the same Basic he had learned from Jorj Car'das years and years ago. 

"Greetings" He spoke softly, "I take it you were the one who sent the animals to rescue me and guide me here." 

The boy nodded, his eyes wary. "I was, why did they leave you there? Did you do something to them?" His voice was guarded, and Thrawn could see the enormous beast close at hand, though neither concerned him. He would not have spent months watching over and guiding him here if he meant to do away with him at the first wrong word.

"We had a disagreement of sorts." He said dismissively. "You have my gratitude for aiding me, I am in your debt." Thrawn meant it, while the boy clearly had an ulterior motive he would have died without him, and Thrawn was not a man to forget his debts. 

The boy nodded, clearly pleased but still unsure, "What was the nature of the disagreement? He said something to you in a language I don't know." he paused for a second as if searching for words. "V _oseuati Seechue_ " he said, butchering the pronunciation. "What does that mean?"

For the second time Thrawn that day considered himself shocked. The first was discovering his rescuer was a small, clearly infirm human child. Now he was shocked to learn that the child had powers beyond controlling beasts and other creatures, but that he could see and hear things in places where no beasts could have. Still his face was schooled carefully neutral, the only sign of his surprise a raised eyebrow and a small widening of his glowing red eyes. "It means vile aggressor." he said, seeing no reason to lie. From what he'd seen of humans, and this cave in particular it was unlikely the boy would share his people's fervent dedication to purely defensive violence. "I am a soldier but my people are peaceful by nature." he said to the boy, "they do not believe in violence unless an enemy is attacking their home, nor do they believe in retaliation. I did not share this belief."

The boy seemed to measure his words, before nodding. "So you retaliated against an enemy and they exiled you for it?"

Thrawn shook his head. "An enemy was preparing to attack our home, and I attacked them before they could. My superiors did not sanction the attack however, and so I was removed from command and exiled."

Bran nodded in understand, before leaning forward again excitedly. "Where are you from? I've never seen anything like what brought you here and I've seen - well everything."

Thrawn paused briefly, noticing the wolf had moved away from him and was simply wandering the edge of the cave, no longer moments away from ripping his throat out. He turned towards the floor and motioned with his hand, "May I sit? I apologize but it has been a long journey."

The boy nodded, and his eyes briefly went white. The wolf returned with two mushrooms in its mouth, uneaten. The boy turned back to him with an apologetic look on his face, "It's not bread and salt but its the best I can do all the way out here. I take you as a guest in my home for this night and extend to you guest right." he said, giving his best attempt at sounding grave. 

A custom of these people. It did not take Thrawn long to reason out. "I thank you for it. " He said nodding, and taking a bite out of his mushroom, as the boy took one out his own. I'm from a world far away, Chehun is where my people come from, thousands of light-years from here." 

"Light Years? A world? What does that mean? " The boy said, his face more guarded. "Are you from Westeros or Essos? Or Sothyros I suppose?"

The continents of this world, amusingly named. "None of those." He leaned over and grabbed a stick, drawing a circle in the dirt, from where he sat beside the boy. "All of the land and the sea, and the sky and the caves that you know, they all make up this world. All of them make up this great sphere" He said, pointing to the drawing. "There are other spheres, far away from this one, above the air of the world, in a place called Space." Not very creatively named either he mused. Perhaps that was the way of things in Basic.

The boy seemed to absorb that rather easily, more likely choosing to ignore it completely. "We need to get South of the Wall." he said instead. "I brought you here because I was hoping you'd help carry me." he hesitated for a second before looking in Thrawn's eyes with earnestness, "My legs, there broken, I'm a cripple, but I need help to leave the cave."

Thrawn nodded, not knowing what wall he was referring to, or what they needed to bypass it for. Those things didn't concern him, the boy's abilities did. When he'd first discovered someone helping him he'd been prepared for a dangerous adversary, a man he would have to tread carefully around, someone he would have to give service to but withhold his true interests and motivations. That he came across a child instead, crippled and alone, was almost too lucky. "I will aid you, of course. While we walk perhaps you will tell me more of this world, and all that which you have seen." The greatest spy in the world, delivered into Thrawn's lap, perhaps exile would not be so bad after all. 


End file.
